What Is an Iran E-Visa (Iran Online Visa) and Should You Get One?

January 4, 2020 - 17:3

Iran E-Visa is an application framework for electronic visas, developed by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 2017 to make the visa process quicker and easier. You may apply for an E-Visa on the MFA website or from any qualified tourist agency.

E-Visa is the most secure way to get a visa for Iran. This way, You will get your authorization code before getting to Iran, and there is no chance of getting rejected after you land in the country. The visa process is also going to be much faster as you will not have to stand in queues, and it will cost less than VOA if you choose to collect your visa in an Iranian embassy or general consulate.

When should You apply for an Iran Visa?

The citizens of any country except the US, UK, and Canada, who have selected one of Iran’s embassies for the place of their Visa issue, have a two-month time limit starting from the day their application is approved to go to the embassy and collect their visa. If you miss your two-month window, your visa code is going to expire, and you’ll be back to square one again. Upon receiving your visa from the embassy, you have up to three months to travel to Iran. If you have chosen an Iranian airport to pick up your visa, you will have 3 months to enter the country from the date your E-visa request is granted.

What Are The Iran Visa Requirements?

You are required to complete an online visa application
Upload a clear passport-style ID photo
Upload a scan from the first page of your passport
You can use the Termeh Travel Visa Assistant Tool to find more details.

Our advice is to submit your visa application form, on trusted local tourist agency websites due to the following reasons:

It takes between two to three Iran business days, which are Saturdays through Wednesdays excluding the national holidays, for a local agency to obtain the confirmation code for you, while in some cases, it can take up to 10 to 15 business days for the MFA to process your visa application. Because getting rejected by the MFA is happens regularly, the MFA website usually recommends applicants to apply via an eligible local travel agency. If your visa request gets denied, your travel agency may be able to negotiate and complete demanded forms or documents and reapply. At the same time, the MFA does not provide this option when you are applying for yourself. It is straightforward to apply for your E-Visa for a reasonable price and get a 24/7 online support on Termeh Travel Visa Page.

What Is An Online Visa Application Form?

When you visit the MFA website, you will have to select your preferred visa and begin your application. At the beginning of your application, you will have to fill in your personal data, upload your ID photo and a scan of the first page of your passport, and choose your place of visa issue. You will go to the online visa application form next. After completing the fields of that form, you will be asked to verify your email address and finally finish your submission. Next, you will have to wait for a certain amount of time for your application to be reviewed and granted.

The Termeh Travel website, however, asks you to complete a visa start form which requires the name, email, and phone number of the group representative, and the number of applicants. After beginning your online visa form, you must also complete the forms for each applicant. These forms ask for some personal data, ID pictures, and scans of the first page of their passports, place of visa issue, approximate arrival and departure times, and so on. For the US, UK, and Canadian citizens, an extra step asks for a fully detailed CV or Resume.

Do Women Need to Wear a Head Scarf/Islamic Hijab on the ID Photo?

No, Although female travelers are obligated to wear Islamic Hijab (scarf, stockings, and long-sleeve shirts) out in public, their ID photo doesn’t need to be with a scarf. The requirements for a standard ID photo are as follows:

● In color

● In .jpg or .jpeg file format

● Equal to or less than 500 kilobytes

● In a rectangular aspect ratio (height must be larger than width)

● No hat, eyeglasses or head covering

● No digitally scanned photos from driver’s licenses or other official documents

● Wearing headscarves is not obligatory.

How to Check Your Iran Visa (E-Visa) Status?

You can check the status of your E-Visa application through the MFA website or from the Termeh Travel Visa Tracking Page; that is if you have submitted your application via Termeh Travel.

What Should You Do After Receiving Your Visa Grant Notice?

The visa grant notice is the E-Visa acceptance letter sent by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, showing that your visa application has been accepted. After receiving this visa grant notice, you will need to submit your passport to the place that you have selected to pick up your visa in your visa application form. It is mandatory to provide your passport to your selected place of visa issue in person.

You will also be required to pay a nonrefundable, non-transferable visa stamp fee. The visa stamp fee depends on the type of visa you are granted.

Do they stamp Your passport in Iran?

As some countries could be politically sensitive about Iran stamps on passports, the pages of your passport will not be stamped. The authorities at the airport will give you the stamp on a separate document to prevent potential problems for you in the future. However, you are required to hold on to that separate document, along with your passport, at all times during your trip.

For How Long will Your Iran Visa  (Iran Visa on Arrival and Iran E-visa) Be Valid?

You can ask for an Iran Visa on Arrival to use for a maximum of up to 30 days. However, it is possible to extend that time limit for another 30-day period by going to the immigration offices in different major cities.

How Should You Extend Your Iran Visa?

You can extend your Iran visa twice, which brings your stay in Iran to a total of 90 days. The cost of the visa extension is less than five euros for each time you extend your visa. In order to extend the visa time limit, the applicant should visit the Passport and Immigration Office in cities provided below:

● Qom

Address: Qom, Shahid Lavasani St

Phone: 025 3772 3838

● Yazd

Bahonar boulevard, Valiasr Alley

Phone: 035 1724 4055

● Mashhad

Address: Razavi Khorasan Province, Mashhad, District 9

Phone: 051 3822 5280

● Shiraz

Address: Fars Province, Shiraz, Modaress boulevard

Phone: 071 3725 0028

● Tehran

Address: Tehran Province, Tehran, Shahr Ara Street

Phone: 021 6693 5058

● Isfahan

Address: Isfahan Province, Isfahan, Rudaki Bypass

Phone: 031 3218 4547

How Much Does Iran Visa Cost?
The visa fee is different from one country to another; you may use Termeh Travel’s  Iran Visa Fee Finder to check the price for your preferred Iran Visa.

Recently, there is a new option for getting an Iran visa. After registering for an E-Visa and getting the authorization code online, you are going to have two options for receiving your visa in embassies or consulates. You, as a traveler, can either pay 50% extra money to collect your visa in a day. It means if the visa fee costs 50 Euros, if you pay a sum of 75 Euros, you will get your visa right there. However, if you do not want to pay the extra money, you might have to wait from 4 to 7 Iran business days (Saturday to Wednesday) to collect your visa.

How long does it take to get an Iranian visa?

You can obtain an E-Visa within 2 to 3 Iran business days (Saturday to Wednesday) if you contact a trusted local travel agency like Termeh Travel.

Note: For citizens of the US, UK, or Canada, it might take up to 2 months to apply for an Iran Visa.

What should You do if Your E-Visa is Rejected?

If you have registered for an E-Visa via the MFA’s E-Visa website and your visa is denied, it is strongly suggested that you apply through a local Iranian travel agency like Termeh Travel and have them do the processing of your visa on your behalf. In case your visa application is denied through a local travel agency as well, and you are eligible for a Visa On Arrival, you have the option to fly to one of Iran’s international airports and get a Visa On Arrival.

Who Can Travel to Kish and Qeshm Islands Visa-free?

Kish and Qeshm are two spectacular Islands with amazing nature, modern shopping malls, and great hospitable people. Citizens of many countries around the world can visit these free-trade zones for 14 days without having to register for a visa. Although, in order to leave the free-trade zone cities for traveling to other parts of the country, you are required to obtain an Iran Visa in the Foreign Affairs Representative Offices.

Which Countries Do Not Need a Visa for Iran (Iran Visa-Free Countries)?

The citizens of the following countries don’t need a visa to enter Iran:

● Armenia

● Azerbaijan

● Bolivia

● Egypt

● Georgia

● Lebanon

● Malaysia

● Oman

● Turkey

● Iraq

● China

● Hong Kong

● Syria (only if they are flying directly from Damascus)

You can use Termeh Travel’s Visa Assistant to see if you need a visa to visit Iran.